Kentucky Records Third-Straight Clean Sheet, Beats Lipscomb
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Thanks to second half goals from junior centerback Payton Atkins and freshman midfielder Julia Grosso, the Kentucky women’s soccer team beat Lipscomb 2-0 on Friday night in front of 1,300 fans at the Bell Soccer Complex on Kick-Cancer Night.
The Wildcats dominated the run of play for a majority of the night, outshooting the Bisons 25-6 and only forcing sophomore goalkeeper Evangeline Soucie to make two saves on the night. The shutout was Soucie’s third, and Kentucky’s third-straight clean sheet of the season, marking the first time UK has shutout three-straight opponents since the 2015 season.
The opening goal was scored on 49 minutes as Payton Atkins headed in her first goal of the season off a long-range set piece from Katy Keen. The senior placed the ball perfectly to the outside of the line and Atkins headed it far post back across the face of goal and into the side netting with pace.
Kentucky doubled its lead in the 65th minute through the feet of Julia Grosso, on her first-career goal. Grosso, who had not even been in the game more than a minute, got the ball played across the top of the 18 and took a stab at it from long distance and punched it into the upper 90 on the left side for the goal.
UK had six shots from Sophie Babo and two of them on goal to lead all Kentucky players in the shot department in her season-high 81 minutes on the pitch. Miranda Jimenez, Katy Keen, Jessica Lazo and Eva Mitchell all also recorded multiple shots in the match.
Kentucky will next face Tennessee on Sunday evening. The match is the opener of the Southeastern Conference season for both teams, and will be shown live on ESPNU and the WatchESPN app with Mike Watts and former All-American Cat Whitehill on the call from Rocky Top. Kick-off is 6 p.m. ET.
AUCTION
Fans can now enter an auction for all game-worn jerseys from tonight’s match. The link can be found above and bidding will end on Sept. 25 at 10 p.m. ET. All 24 player’s game-worn jerseys from tonight start at $50 with all the proceeds benefiting Dance Blue in the fight against pediatric cancer.
For the latest on the Kentucky women’s soccer team, follow @UKWomensSoccer on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, as well as on the web at UKathletics.com.
